MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Alaska Nanooks cross country running teams return to the site of their last meet, Western Oregon University and the Ash Creek Preserve. This Friday, Sept. 20, both teams compete in the Sundowner Invite. 
 
 

Invitational Page	2019 Sundowner Invite – Hosted by Western Oregon
Date & Location	Friday, Sept. 20 | Ash Creek Preserve | Monmouth, Oregon
Start Times	Women at 4 p.m. AKT | Men at 4:45 p.m. AKT
Race Distances	Women – 6km | Men – 8km
Follow Along	Live Stats
Social Media	Twitter | Facebook

Last Time Out
14 teams from the West Coast will compete in this Invite, one of the biggest events of the year. With both the men and women coming off of a bye week, the legs will be fresh for this weekend after the men finished eighth two weeks ago and the women climbed the ladder to a fourth place finish.
 
Mike Ophoff was the first men's cross country runner to cross the finish line at the Ash Creek Invite, finishing 22^ndwith a total time of 19:20.53, which was also the top time out of a GNAC representative. Logan Mowry was the next Nanook to finish at 34^thwith a time of 19:49.75.
 
As for the women, Anja Maijala led the way for the Nanooks and finished 18^thwith a time of 16:18.8 and was closely followed at 19^thplace by Noelle Resignolo who posted a time of 16:19.3.
 
Competition Field
With 14 teams competing at the Sundowner Invite, Alaska will have big tasks to complete. Besides the WOU Wolves and Alaska Nanooks, the other teams set to compete in the Sundowner Invite are Biola, Central Washington, Clackamas CC, Concordia, Humboldt State, Oregon Running Club, Lane CC, Pacific, San Francisco State, Southwestern CC, Warner Pacific and Walla Walla. Alaska, CWU, WOU and Concordia are the only GNAC schools to compete in Friday's meet. 
 
Weather Forecast
Race day conditions may not be in the Nanooks favor as Monmouth is expecting 70 degree weather with a 50% chance of rain and up to 10 mph winds. 
 
What Lays Ahead
Following the Sundowner Invite, the men and women cross country running teams will head to Salem, Oregon on Oct. 5 for the Charles Bowles Invite which is hosted by Willamette University. The Charles Bowles Invite will end the regular season schedule for both teams until Oct. 26 when they will both head to Billings, Montana to compete in the GNAC Championships hosted by Montana State, Billings. 
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks cross country running teams, follow @AlaskaNanooksXC on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.